'Mind-blowing' discovery reveals 5,000-year-old cultic building in Israel

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a 5,000-year-old-settlement near the city of Beit Shemesh. The finds include two pottery kilns, which are among the oldest ever discovered in Israel, and a public building containing 40 intact vessels that is likely one of the oldest temples ever uncovered in the Judean Lowlands.

"The significance of the site we are working on is immense," Yitzhak Paz, a researcher with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), which conducted the excavations, said in a translated video. "Among other reasons because it is a very large site that dominates its surroundings, meaning we are dealing with a substantial location that housed a large population that show early signs of urbanization."

The settlement was found at Hurvat Husham, a Bronze Age site, in 2021. The remains of the building include thick walls that housed a space with benches, which the team hypothesizes served a public function — perhaps worship, according to an IAA statement. Not far from this building, the archaeologists also uncovered an older complex with rows of large standing stones, which was likely also used as a ritual space.